Episode Details

In the early 1870s, young boys in Boston survived brutal attacks by another child: Jesse Pomeroy. At just 12, he was sent to reform school for torturing children but after his early release, the violence escalated into murder.

In 1874, 10-year-old Katie Curran disappeared, and four-year-old Horace Millen was found murdered. Pomeroy, then 14, was arrested for Millen’s death before workmen discovered Katie’s body hidden in the basement of his mother’s shop. He confessed to killing her, too.

Sentenced to death, Pomeroy instead received life imprisonment in solitary confinement after his sentence was commuted in 1876. His case horrified the country and sparked an uncomfortable question: how should society punish a child responsible for such calculated cruelty?